- John Wolff, a portfolio manager for Leon Cooperman's Omega Advisors, is getting ready to start his own fund.
- Wolff, who focused on technology, media, and telecommunications, is planning on getting seed capital from Cooperman, a billionaire who turned his fund into a family office in late 2018.
- Hedge fund launches have slowed during the pandemic, as meetings with investors were forced to video chats and business travel was cancelled.
- For more stories like this, sign up here for our Wall Street Insider newsletter.
A new hedge fund is in the works, with a very well-known backer.
John Wolff, a portfolio manager for Leon Cooperman's now-closed hedge fund Omega Advisors, is planning on launching his own fund with seed capital from the billionaire, Cooperman confirmed in an email to Business Insider.
While Cooperman said there's "nothing finalized yet" on the launch, sources say Cooperman could be providing up to $50 million in funding. Both Cooperman and Wolff declined to comment on the amount of seed capital Cooperman is planning to contribute.
Wolff, according to his LinkedIn profile, has spent five years at Omega, which was turned into Cooperman's family office in late 2018. His focus has been technology, media, and telecommunications investments. Prior to working for Cooperman, Wolff was a principal at Dan Benton's tech-focused Andor Capital Management, which shut down in 2016.
A Harvard graduate, Wolff did not immediately go into the investing business. He spent a couple of years playing minor league baseball after being drafted in the later rounds of the 2005 MLB Draft.
New launches have been few and far between during the global pandemic, as meetings with potential investors turned into video calls and business travel was cancelled. But getting off the ground prior to the pandemic was an increasingly tall task for new managers as well — 2019 was the third straight where fund closures outnumbered launches. Eurekahedge data shows that in the first quarter of this year, when the effects of the pandemic were only felt in the last half of March, 58 new funds were launched while 143 closed.
There are still major launches expected to come later this year, including former Viking CIO Ben Jacobs' Anomaly Capital, former Appaloosa partner Aaron Weitman's CastleKnight Management, and former Man GLG executive John Gisondi's Paqua Capital.
Read more:
